story by Elizabeth Silva

Singing in the opening ceremony of the 2010 March for Life Rally, junior Sebastian Orozco lifts his hands to show support for the end of abortion. photo courtesy of Nora Orozco

As the El Paso downtown park fills the air with hundreds of pro-life voices, people across the city gather around the stage while the Queen of Peace Catholic Church Lifeteen Band leads the rally in song on Sunday, January 17, 2010. The purpose of the rally was to inform people to express their opposition to the Congressional passage of the Freedom of Choice Act. About 300 people were in attendance at the annual March for Life rally at Houston Park downtown El Paso.

According to the Rio Grande Catholic, “the effort to oppose passage of the Freedom of Choice Act began in the wake of rallies for life throughout the United States on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of 1973. The decisions overturned state laws prohibiting abortion at any time during a woman’s pregnancy.”

During the election campaign in 2008, President Barack Obama promised to sign the freedom of Choice Act into law as soon as Congress would send it to his desk. This act would establish in legislation an unlimited right to abortion throughout the United States.

“In addition to giving legislative weight to the two Supreme Court decisions, the Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate laws to protect a woman from unsafe abortion clinics and to ensure that she is informed about abortion, require taxpayers to pay for abortions, require states to permit ‘partial birth’ and other late-term abortions, require states to permit abortions by non-physicians, bar laws protecting the right of conscientious objection to abortion and deny parents the opportunity to be involved in their daughter’s abortion decision,” Rio Grande Catholic said.

Junior Sebastian Orozco feels the same about the opposition and participated in the rally by playing with the Lifeteen band.

“I had a great experience playing with the Lifeteen band,” Orozco said. “The rally is a powerful movement for people interested in saving lives. I loved how they even carried it out by not condemning people right or wrong but praying for more lives instead  of killing.”

There were four parts to the rally; music by the Lifeteen band, a talk with many Catholic religious leaders, a walk to the abortion clinic, and ending with a mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Sophomore Kristina Busser was among the many who participated Sunday.

“I knew a couple of the songs. I had fun jamming out and walking to the clinic,” Busser said. “I liked the talk and what they were saying. The mass was also very pretty. Before the rally, I’ve always thought abortion was bad but after the rally, it made me realize that pro-life is definitely the choice for me.”

Sophomore Michael Quinn Lara was amazed by how many people were there.

“I was surprised by the outcome,” Lara said. “I didn’t know that many people go to pro-life rallies. I also saw a lot of Franklin people there.”

Lara also enjoyed his first experience of the rally movement.

“My experience was great,” Lara said. “I don’t go to church so it was out of the normal. It was sort of like a spiritual awakening because it felt pretty good to be there and be spiritually active for a change.”